ExxonMobil starts ethylene production at new Singapore cracker

30 May 2013 08:12[Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--ExxonMobil has begun ethylene production at its new 1m tonne/year cracker at Singapore’s Jurong Island, the company said on Thursday.

“Over the next few weeks, the petrochemical complex,…will increase production at its three polyethylene plants, two polypropylene plants, a specialty metallocene elastomers unit and the expanded oxo-alcohol and aromatics units,” it said in a statement.

The project includes new oxo-alcohol and transalkylation units; two 650,000 tonnes/year polyethylene (PE) units; a 500,000 tonne/year polypropylene (PP) plant; a 300,000 tonne/year metallocene elastomers unit; and an aromatics extraction unit that can produce 340,000 tonnes/year of benzene.

It will also boost the company’s paraxylene (PX) output at the site by 80,000 tonnes/year.

ExxonMobil completed construction of the expansion in December last year and is producing commercial grades of new products, such as specialty metallocene elastomers, for the first time in the Asia Pacific region.

The new cracker is part of ExxonMobil’s second petrochemical project in Singapore.